


Hope.

by caitlesshea



Series: Canon-Lite. [2]
Category: Animal Kingdom (TV)
Genre: Hope, M/M, Realizations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-21 15:57:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16579640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caitlesshea/pseuds/caitlesshea
Summary: Craig offers Adrian a little hope.





	Hope.

**Author's Note:**

> This is also posted on my Tumblr. Part 2 of my post 1x07 story.

Adrian put his head on the door, before finally unlocking it and pushing inside. He doesn’t even know why he came here instead of going home. He put his back to the door and slid down to the floor. He didn’t even bother with the lights.

 

_ You can’t make me feel something I don’t _ .

 

He can’t believe he said that. The look on Deran’s face had nearly broken him. But, he didn’t know what to do anymore. He was scared. He was angry. He was hurt. His best friend, his person, whom he loved, more than anything, was becoming a monster. Just thinking about everything that had happened made his ribs twinge. He put a hand over them out of habit. He can’t stop the tears that are falling.

 

After what feels like an eternity, he finally gets up to leave. His legs feel like lead. He figures he might as well lay in his own bed if he’s gunna keep crying. He walks outside and that’s when he notices Deran’s still here, sitting with his head in his hands against the steering wheel.

 

He knows he should leave. He knows that what’s been said is enough for tonight, for a lifetime. But that same invisible force that has always pulled them together is still pulling. He doesn’t even remember walking over to the car and knocking on the window. But he startles Deran enough that he jumps as well.

 

And then he’s saying words he never thought he’d get to say to Deran. And Deran’s listening to him. It’s pure instinct to wipe his tears away. He hates seeing Deran cry, although it’s usually never because of him. He can only remember one time when they were younger and goofing off on their skateboards. He shoved Deran after some smart ass comment and Deran fell over and clipped his chin. He didn’t even make a sound but there were big fat tears rolling down his cheeks. He knew, then, that he never wanted to cause him any pain.

 

But, this was different. And not just because this was mostly, entirely, self-inflicted by Deran.

 

He doesn’t think Deran’s ever listened to him before. So when he asks for space, and Deran says, “Yeah man”, he almost wants to take it back. To apologize to him. They rarely ever go more than a couple days without speaking. Although lately, the days when they do speak are getting farther and farther apart.

 

He watches Deran drive away. He’s frozen in place. He feels all out of sorts. He knows they need this. Need to find themselves again. But he doesn’t know if he can do it. If he’s strong enough. He sits in his car, but he can’t make himself turn it on.  _ This must be why Deran was sitting in his car,  _ he thinks. He laughs to himself. Sometimes they’re so similar. Years of being attached at the hip will do that. He’s so exhausted. This day took it all out of him. He closes his eyes, and his last thought before he falls asleep is “I’ll just shut my eyes for a minute”.

 

That was a lie. He jerks awake at the sound of pounding on his car window. “Shit”, he says. It’s bright. He fell asleep in his car. He looks up and sees Craig’s big head staring through his window. He gets out of his car.

 

“Hey man”, he says to Craig as he stretches. His neck is killing him.

 

“Dude. Did you sleep in your car?”, Craig asks him. Craig’s holding a surfboard and he sees the Scout parked a couple spots down.

 

“Yeah. Apparently. Must’ve passed out. C’mon, I’ll take a look at your board”, he says as he walks towards the door.

 

“It’s cool man. It can wait til later”, Craig says. He must notice Adrian’s in the same clothes as the party. He wonders briefly how Deran’s doing.

 

“Nah, all good. C’mon”, he says back. Better to keep his mind busy.

 

“You okay?”, Craig asks as leans down to get a look at Adrian’s face. He doesn’t even want to know what he looks like. He can feel that his eyes are puffy.

 

Never let anyone tell you Craig isn’t perceptive though.

 

“I’m good”, he says back.

 

“Really? You don’t look like it. And you slept in your car”, Craig deadpans.

 

“I’m.. I’ll be okay”, Adrian says.

 

“What did Deran do?”, Craig asks him. That has him pausing. He doesn’t talk about Deran, especially not about his relationship with Deran, if you could even call it that.

 

“Nothing man”, he finally says.

 

“Bullshit. I know he did something. I called him out on it yesterday. He was being a fucking dick”, Craig says with conviction.

 

“I..he…”, he doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know what Craig knows. And he is  _ not _ about to out Deran.

 

Craig must sense this. “I know you’re sleeping together”, he says.

 

Huh. Guess that answers that question. He wonders if Craig figured it out or Deran actually told him. It’s more likely that Craig figured it out.

 

“We’re not anymore”, he finally says.

 

“What happened?”, Craig asks. He doesn’t want to answer. He’s ashamed that he let it get to the place it did.

 

“Nothing man. Just taking some time,” he settles on.

 

“Mmm”, Craig mumbles. He doesn’t look convinced. But, is the first person he speaks to about his life with Deran going to be his older brother? No, it isn’t.

 

“It’s all good man”, he says back.

 

“If you say so”, Craig says. He’s shaking his head. “Just wish he would’ve said something”, Craig says again.

 

“Not really his style”, Adrian says. This feels like a betrayal. Talking about Deran like this.

 

“No, I guess you’re right. You would know”, Craig says.

 

“What’s that mean?”, Adrian asks.

 

“You know. I mean you’re his boyfriend or whatever”, Craig says. He looks uncomfortable.

 

“Not his boyfriend”, Adrian says firmly.

 

“Right, well you’re his something”, Craig says.

 

He doesn’t want to argue with Craig. He wants to go home and wallow in his own self pity if he’s being honest with himself.

 

“Yeah. Let me see your board man. I wanna get out of here”, he says.

 

“Sure. Thanks”, Craig says. Thankfully taking the hint that Adrian’s done with this conversation.

 

He knows that he’s nowhere near ready to forgive Deran. He knows they need their space. Deran needs to get his shit together. But, he thinks that if Deran’s talking to Craig about, not only Adrian, but about himself being gay, then it’s a start. Maybe there’s hope for them yet.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
